Trip to the Moon by V. Evic

This simple story manages to be simultaneously local and universal. Most children can relate to dreaming about flying to the moon, having the sensation of falling while they are dreaming and actually falling out of bed during a dream. That’s what happens in this story. However, the characters in this story live in Pangnirtung on Baffin Island in Nunavut, and the story reflects things local to that place. In many “flying to the moon” stories, children fly on a magic carpet, boat or a rocket, but these children find a dented and dirty oil drum rusting on the beach and that becomes their enchanted conveyance.

This book is the result of a contest, designed to encourage literacy in the community. Vera Evic’s story was selected from those submitted. The illustrations are done by five youths who are members of the Pangnirtung-Uqqurmiut Inuit Artist Organization. Every other page is a full-page brightly-coloured illustration, each showing the individual illustrator’s style. All of the illustrations depict local things – kids on bikes, houses on stilts, tundra landscape. Even the little people they meet on the moon are dressed in Inuit style clothing. While the level of skill varies among the illustrators the differences are charming rather than jarring.

The text is printed in English and Inuktitut syllabics. The story is easy to read and appropriate for the intended pre-school and early elementary school audience. This book deserves stars for the creative involvement of community, the support of literacy and Indigenous language retention in young children and also for the quality of the end product. Highly recommended for public and elementary school libraries.

Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4 Reviewer: Sandy Campbell

Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.